“I have noted” 1 Samuel 15:2
There are few things that mean more to us than when someone notices something we’ve done. Today while checking someone out at the register at Dollar General she looked at me and said, “Are you the one….” and I paused, half-hoping that she was going to say what I hoped she was going to say, half-fearing she was going to say something else. “who writes…” I got a little half-grin on my face, she was saying it! “that article for the Hamilton County paper?” SHE SAID IT! But then she went on and made it even better, “I LOVE your article! The other week when you talked about God saying, ‘Light be’…” (Inside I did a little happy dance. You know what I mean.)
It feels so good to be noticed for something that you’re doing. It feels so good to have someone tell you that they appreciate what you’re doing for them (for free and at a great cost to yourself). It’s good to be noticed.
And yet as mothers we do NOT get noticed. How many of you have had your kids say, “Hey Mom, thanks for cleaning the toilets for us today, I hate using a dirty one.” Or “Gee Mom, thank you for picking up that trash I left on the floor, that was really nice of you!” or even, “Wow Mom, dinner was GREAT thanks for making it even after you worked all day and your feet hurt and you can barely pick the fork up because you’re so tired. You’re the best!”
Yeah, they don’t do that do they?
But you know who does notice? Jesus. He notices when we pick up that piece of trash floating through the empty parking lot. He notices when we use a toothbrush or a cotton swab to clean something. He notices when we keep going even though every muscle in your body is screaming for you to stop. He notices when we push through the hard day in order to help someone else have a good one. He notices the sacrifices we make for our families and those around us. He notices because they’re really for Him.
In Matthew 25 Jesus talks about the final judgment day and how He will say, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed Me. I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.” Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger and welcome You, or naked and clothe You? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit You? And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to Me.”
When we do something for someone else, Jesus notices because in reality we’re doing it for Him. AND, what’s more, when someone does something to us, they’re doing it to Jesus – good or bad. He notices.
In today’s Word of the Day, God tells Saul “I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” 1 Samuel 15:2-3 Now, this is years after the Exodus and the crossing of the Jordan, and even after all these years God never forgot how the Amalekalites mistreated His people. Deuteronomy 32:34-36 says, “Is not this laid up in store with Me, for the time when their foot shall slip, for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly. For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining bond or free.”
We don’t have to remember what everyone has done to us over the years. We don’t have to recall all those grudges, because God’s got it all under control. Every action in this world has an opposite and equal reaction. You reap what you sow. What goes around comes around. Call it whatever you like, it’s all the same thing. Our actions have consequences to them. If I plant a seed of corn, a corn stalk is going to grow. If I plant a watermelon seed, a watermelon vine will come up. I can’t plant an apple seed and expect to harvest peaches from the tree. So if I’m constantly going around sowing seeds of discord, can I possibly expect harmony to grow? (Or vice versa.)
God has noted. He knows what you’re going through. He knows where you have been and He knows what you’ve done. And there WILL come a day when all the hard work, and time and tears and turmoil that you’ve been through will have grown and will be ready for a bountiful harvest. And you’ll be right there with a basket ready to bring it all in! He will make sure of it! 😀
Tamar Knochel 